There’s a saying in Hollywood that if a film is bad critics blame the screenwriter, but if it’s good, it’s the director who gets the credit. There’s a certain amount of truth in that, and it’s something that would be easy to do with Pacific Rim. The action scenes are terrific, it looks amazing and the world building is impressive, but the characters feel a bit like action figures.

The problem is that the film tries to create archetypes more than people – the hero with something to overcome, the damaged love interest, the grizzled commander, the arrogant colleague who’s convinced the hero with fail. It’s a common tactic with big tentpole films, and writers Guillermo Del Toro and Travis Beachman have certainly been thumbing through their copies of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces to try and understand the archetypes they need to fulfil the hero’s journey – from being reluctantly called to action, to a flirtation with resurrection – however the result is characters that don’t feel quite real. [Read more…]

Early last week many had expected The Smurfs 2 to take the top spot this weekend at the US box office, but in the end it had to settle for the number three spot. Topping the list was 2 Guns, with the Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington action flick taking a solid but unspectacular $27.3 million. Many have suggested that the fact the marketing concentrated on the stars and said little about the story may have held the film back.

The second weekend of The Wolverine took second spot with $21.7 million, which is a pretty steep drop of 60% from its first weekend, but it was still enough to beat Smurfs 2. The little blue men took $18.7 of the weekend and $27.7 million since if opened last Wednesday. That’s behind the $35 million of the first film and the lowest start of any of this summer’s family film. Even Turbo, which most considered a flop, started better.

It’s now going to have to hope that like the first movie its gross will hold up over the coming weeks and turn it into a true hit (and also that it makes a lot of cash internationally).

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of August 2nd-4th.

The Wolverine has taken the US box office crown with a $55 million opening. While that’s not a bad take, and certainly better than recent disappointments such as The Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim, it’s still being seen as rather soft, as most had expected it to take $60 million plus.

There was more to cheer globally though as the mutant movie took an impressive $141 million, suggesting that even if it doesn’t become a huge hit in North America, it’ll still be a massive success around the globe. With the film costing $120 million – versus the $200 million plus of other recent failures – it may suggest Hollywood needs to rethink how much it spends on some of its movies.

The only other film making its first appearance in the top 10 is Fruitvale Station, which added 1,000 screens (up from 34 screen last weekend), allowing it to take $4.6 million, placing it in 10th spot on the chart. The film, based on the true story of Oscar Grant, has got massive amounts of attention in the US following the aquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed African-American Trayvon Martin, helping Fruitvale Station to find a larger audience than it might have otherwise.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of July 26th-28th.

Last week a sequel to The Conjuring was announced, which suggested Warner Bros had an inkling it would do well. They were right, as the James Wan directed horror movie, which cost just $20 million to make, grossed $41 million in its first three days in cinemas to top the US box office.

It’s the top opening ever for an original R-rated horror movie, and more than the far pricier Pacific Rim took in its first weekend last week.

All the other new openers cost a lot more to make, but none of them made much of a dent in the box office. DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo took the number three spot with $21.5 million and $31.2 million since it opened last Wednesday. The company will be hoping that good word of mouth will help keep the gross up over the coming weeks, but it’s not an amazing start, especially as it opened behind the third weekend of Despicable Me 3.

Indeed it was a bad weekend for Ryan Reynolds all round, as not only does he voice the title character in Turbo, but he also stars in R.I.P.D., which became the summer’s latest big budget bomb, grossing a paltry $12 million in its first weekend. As it cost $130 million to make, it’s going to end up losing an awful lot of cash.

R.I.P.D. placed seventh on the chart, and while Red 2 did a little better than that, with a fifth place finish and an $18.5 million gross it still didn’t have a lot to cheer. That’s lower than the $21 million the first film opened to. That earlier film became a word of mouth hit, which should have ensured a good opening gross for a sequel, but it seem audiences simply aren’t interested.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of July 19th-21st.

Despite two new big releases this week, Despicable Me managed to hold onto the top spot at the US box office for a second week, taking another $44 million for an excellent total of $229 million so far.

However what analysts were really watching was whether Pacific Rim could beat Grown Ups 2. In the end it couldn’t, as Grown Ups 2 took $42.5 million, despite being reviled by the critics. That’s slightly ahead of the first Grown Ups film, and the second biggest start even for Adam Sandler (after The Longest Yard), which is good news for him after a series of disappointments.

Pacific Rim placed third with $38.3 million, which may be the highest opening ever for director Guillermo Del Toro, but certainly isn’t great for a movie that cost $200 million to produce. Thankfully though, it’s slightly more than some had expected after soft tracking for the robots vs. monsters movie. While it may eventually reach $100 million in the US, its only real hope of turning a profit is with a stellar international performance.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of July 12th-14th.

The last couple of trailer for Pacific Rim have concentrated on the monsters, robots and action, and while there’s still a lot of that in this final promo, it also wants to remind us there’s a human side too. There’s also a fun vid featuring Ron Perlman as a monster parts salesman which you can watch below!

‘When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that took millions of lives and consumed humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots. But in the face of the relentless Kaiju, even the Jaegers prove defenseless.

‘On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) – who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.’

I had been keen to see Pacific Rim for the monsters, entertainment and Guillermo Del Toro’s masterful world building, but now I’ve seen the image above, I’m thinking there’s another reason I’ll be showing up when it opens July 12th.

The image was released to JustJared and shows British actor Charlie Hunnam looking incredibly pretty with his shirt off – I think it’s safe to say he’s spent plenty of time in the gym. He plays one of the pilots of the film’s enormous robots, which humanity has built to fight gargantuan monsters that are spilling out of the Pacific.

You can watch the latest trailer here. And while we’re here, why not watch a new featurette, about the monster attacks (and featuring more Hunnam hotness) below. Charlie’s certainly come a long way since the day he was young Nathan in the UK’s Queer As Folk.

While Pacific Rim will undoubtedly feature a lot of CGI, Guillermo Del Toro was keen to do plenty of practical shooting, and that included a four-storey high set of the robots’ head, which was able to move, shake and drop 15 feet so the actors could really react to action. The poor actors were also inside suits attached to enormous, complex machines to make things even more difficult. A new featurette explores that, and it’s well worth a look.

‘When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

The trailers for Pacific Rim have certainly sold the massive special effects and incredible look of the movie, but there’s not been much on the human side of the film. Now a new featurette has popped up which should help with that, as it concentrates on how two human pilots are needed for the giant robots in the movie.

It’s well worth a look.

Here’s the film’s synopsis: ‘When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.’

In a summer filled with sequels and movies based on known properties, the original movie that’s looking the most exciting is definitely Pacific Rim, and the latest trailer suggests this is going to be a movie told on a truly epic scale. Indeed it’s look pretty awesome.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes–a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)–who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.’